Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Neue Vahr Süd" is a German 90-minute movie from 6 years ago and the three people who made this (Hermine Huntgeburth, Christian Zübert and Sven Regener) have their names attached to several pretty famous German movies and this one here is a worthy addition to their bodies of work. The story is about a young man who ends up with the army, even if he had no intention to do so. In order to add some historic significance, the film plays before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, but in West Germany. This is also why I would not call it really a historically interesting movie, but it is still better than Leander Haußmann's NVA for example as it actually tells an interesting story and the characters are much better written too. Not a problem at all that they somewhat recycled Hinnerk Schönemann and Robert Gwisdek here as both are good actors in my opinion.The main character is played by Frederick Lau, one of Germany's biggest stars right now after the very successful "Victoria". I like him as an actor, even if he has still a tendency to play his characters very similar. I think he can work on that still. Nonetheless, he manages the task of carrying this film here as he is in pretty much every scene and minute here. Miriam Stein plays the female lead character and I like her too. She has decent range and adds a lot to the more dramatic moments of this movie. She is basically the reason why this is more than just another fairly pointless comedy. Of course, the looks don't hurt either. Taking everything into account, "Neue Vahr Süd is a positive achievement. The good outweighs the bad and, in terms of small screen releases, it is definitely among the best Germany had to offer in recent past. I recommend watching it.
